Fox greenlights Shawn Ryan’s ‘Ridealong’

Hour-long cop drama set in Chicago

Fox had earlier handed a put pilot order to the Chicago-set cop show (Daily Variety, Aug. 10).

Project’s a personal passion project of Ryan’s, who grew up in nearby Rockford, Ill. “Ridealong” will center on three groups of police officers –ranging from uniformed beat cops to the female chief of police.

Ryan wrote and exec produces the hour-long drama, which comes from 20th Century Fox TV.

In August, Ryan said he hoped to shoot the skein in Chicago, which he has made a major part of the show.

“It’s a city I’m very familiar with, and one I haven’t seen photographed much, at least on TV,” Ryan said at the time, adding that he thought Chicago had become “the center of the universe.”

“When I pitched it to the people at Fox, (Chicago was) the first character I described,” Ryan said. “It’s a gorgeous town and is the most interesting architectural city in America.”

Ryan said Chicago is also a “city with a big crime problem at the moment,” which will inform the show.

Ryan said “Ridealong” will mostly take place on the streets of Chicago, and will be populated by unique people — including the central lead character, a Polish-American cop who plays up his heritage.

“There will be a few twists that make it different from other cop shows on the air and will make it Fox-like,” Ryan said.

“Ridealong” will showcase close-ended cases, “but something will happen in the pilot that will have overarching (ramifications) that we deal with over time. It will be less serialized than ‘Grey’s’ but more than ‘CSI.’ ”

Ryan said “Ridealong” will also include elements of Chicago’s shady politics and underworld.

“I don’t think it will be as gritty a world as ‘The Shield’ was, but it will feel authentic,” Ryan said.